Bruno Bartoletti dead: longtime leader Chicago Lyric Opera artistic dies in Florence

Rome - Bruno Bartoletti, Director of orchestra that was associated with the lyric opera of Chicago for half a century, and defended the modern opera, as well as classics, died Sunday in his native Tuscany, a day before his birthday, 87.

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where the master had served as artistic director from 1985 until 1991, said Bartoletti died in a Florence hospital after a long illness.

In a career that saw Bartoletti perform well in 80 years - directed Giacomo Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" at the Teatro Comunale of Florence in February 2011 - served as the first director of music of lyric opera of Chicago, starting as a guest conductor there in 1956, when he was relatively unknown.

Bartoletti was 30 when the lyric opera's 2 years needs a replacement for the "Il Trovatore" by Giuseppe Verdi conductor in 1956. Baritone Tito Gobbi supported him and Bartoletti made his debut with the company. He directed over 600 representations of 55 operas at the lyric, in his 51 years, with his latest in 2007. He served as artistic director with Pino Donati from 1965 until 1975 and as artistic director from 1975 until 1999.

"Sir Andrew Davis, director of music of the letter, said that when he took the"musical"reins of Bartoletti in 2000,"I was very aware of the extraordinary legacy which had left."

"Not only establish and maintain the tradition of the great Italian opera that the company earned the nickname of 'La Scala West', but also oversaw the expansion of the repertoire" including a "remarkable range" of operas of the 20th century and premieres, Davis said in a statement. "

Interviewed by The Associated Press in Chicago in 2007, Bartoletti said that it was returning to Florence to be with his family and announced that he would not outside Italy again.

He was a proponent of the modern music in Chicago and Florence.

One of the things I'm most proud of is the premiere of city of Alban Berg 'Wozzeck', which I think is the great masterpiece of the 20th century, "he said in that interview in Chicago.

Lyric Founder Carol Fox in charge "Lost paradise" of Krzysztof Penderecki for the United States bicentennial in 1976, but the work was not completed until two years later. Bartoletti conducted the world premiere on November 29, 1978.

CEO letter, Anthony Freud, recalled Sunday how Bartoletti nurtured the incipient company when he first joined. When he retired as artistic director in 1999, letter was recognized in the world as one of the great opera companies, "Freud said in a statement.

Bartoletti also took place at La Scala, working with the legendary opera house of Milan for 13 productions, from 1958. He was a guest repeat at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.

Among the most notable albums with Bartoletti as the master was a recording of Verdi "Un Ballo in Maschera" with Renata Tebaldi and Luciano Pavarotti.

A wake was scheduled for Monday in the foyer of the Teatro Comunale of Florence, followed by a funeral in Sesto Fiorentino, a suburb of Florence, where the master, was born on June 10, 1926. Bartoletti did studying music at the Conservatory in Florence. The Tuscan capital awarded him honorary citizenship in 2009.

___

Associated press writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report from New York.